at she
would do with it. She set to work with great deliberation;
first pulling a handful of sugar-plums out of her pocket, and
arranging them in a little heap at her side on the table, and
then proceeding with much gravity to stake them on the
numbers. She would put down a bonbon and give the board a
twirl; "_ving-cinq_," she would say; the ball flew round and
fell into a number; it might be ten, or twenty, or twenty-
five, it did not much matter; she looked to see what it was,
but right or wrong, never failed to eat the bonbon--an
illogical result, which contrasted quaintly with the intense
seriousness with which she made her stakes. Sometimes she
would place two or three sugar-plums on one number, always
naming it aloud--"_trente-et-un_," "_douze-premier_," "_douze-
apres_." It was the oddest game for a small thing not six years
old; and there was something odd, too, in her matter-of-fact,
business-like air, which amused Graham. He had seen gambling-
tables during his three weeks' visit to Germany, and he felt
sure that this child must have seen them too.

"Eh! What an insupportable heat!" cried a harsh high-pitched
voice behind him. "Monsieur Jules, I will repose myself for a
few minutes, if you will have the goodness to fetch me a glass
of _eau sucree. Je n'en peux plus!_"

Graham, recognizing the voice, turned round, and saw the
Countess G---- leaning on the arm of a young man with whom she
had been dancing.

"But it is really stifling!" she exclaimed, dropping into an
arm-chair by the table as her partner retired. "Monsieur does
not dance, apparently," she continued, addressing Horace.
"Well, you are perhaps right; it is a delightful amusement,
but on a night like this---- Ah! here is little Madelon. I have
not seen you before to-day. How is it you are not dancing?"

"I don't want to," answered the child, giving the roulette-
board a twirl.

"But that is not at all a pretty game that you have there,"
said the Countess, shaking her head; "it was not for little
girls that Mademoiselle Cecile placed the roulette-board
there. Where is your doll? why are you not playing with her?"

"My doll is in bed; and I like this best," answered the child
indifferently. "_Encore ce malheureux trente-six! Je n'ai pas
de chance ce soir!_"

"But little girls should not like what is naughty: and I think
it would be much better if you were in bed too. Come, give me
that ugly toy; there is Monsieur quite shocked to see you